


Stay with me

by Xyzcl



Category: Kingdom Hearts
Genre: Hollow Bastion | Radiant Garden, Hurt/Comfort, Implied/Referenced Self-Harm, M/M, Partial Nudity, Vanitas (Kingdom Hearts) Swears
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-04-22
Updated: 2019-04-22
Packaged: 2020-01-24 05:27:11
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 4,633
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18564856
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Xyzcl/pseuds/Xyzcl
Summary: Lea and Isa are walking through Radiant Garden on their way home after Lea loses the fight against Ventus only to (literally) stumble across an unconscious Vanitas after his fight with Aqua





	1. Radiant Garden

**Author's Note:**

> Based on a series of tweets between @MikazeAimi and @VenVanyeetas that I fell in love with at 4am while at work, I hope I did them justice with this

Isa let out a quiet sigh as he listened to his friend drone on about the boy they had just run into, letting Lea talk about how he would be sure to win next time he fought the blonde. He rolled his eyes and let out a snort of amusement as he bit his tongue to keep from making a snarky comment. As he continued distractedly listening to the redhead, his foot caught on something that caused him to stumble, catching himself before he could fall over. 

“What the hell?” he grumbled as he looked down, spotting the body on the ground. 

There, on the ground at his feet, was an unconscious boy wearing a black bodysuit with red lines on it, a helmet on his head keeping his face obstructed. He was wearing something that looked similar to a skirt and at the sight of it, the blue haired teen had to fight to keep a straight face. 

“Do you think he’s okay?” Lea asked as he knelt down and poked the boy’s side. “We should help him.”

Isa noted the lack of a response from the hopefully just unconscious body on the ground and shrugged. He knelt down next to the boy and carefully pulled off the helmet on his head. Handing the helmet to his friend, the blue haired teen checked to see if the stranger was still breathing.

“He’s alive.” Isa noted calmly while the redhead next to him was still freaking out. 

Hooking his arms under the stranger’s knees and behind his back, he carefully picked up the unconscious boy, staggering slightly as he stood up from the sheer surprise of how light he was. 

“Isa, where are you taking him?” Lea asked curiously, following behind his friend as he walked.

“To my house, yours is too far away. You wanted to help him, didn’t you?” 

Lea nodded as he continued to follow his friend. Isa lead the way through one of the back alleys in Radiant Garden, taking his friend and the stranger to the back door of his house, not wanting his parents to pester them all day if they decided to come home for once. He motioned for his friend to grab his keys from his pocket since he couldn’t. The green eyed teen cringed slightly as he reached into Isa’s pocket and pulled out his keyring, unlocking the back door and holding it open for him. 

“Thanks.” 

“Don’t mention it.”

Isa carried the stranger to his room, setting the black haired boy on his bed before stretching. He was light, sure, but that didn’t mean much when he had to carry him half way through the city to his house. Massaging his shoulder softly, he sat down on the edge of his bed and took a better look at the stranger. He must have been the same age as the blond boy that Lea wouldn’t shut up about earlier, with messy black hair that had mysteriously been able to set neatly under his helmet. How he had managed to get that mess into the helmet and still be able to see, Isa had no clue. The bodysuit he was wearing outlined the muscles of his arms, legs, and torso as if to hide the fact that the boy obviously hadn’t eaten recently. And his smell….the blue haired man was surprised he hadn’t started gagging. The stranger smelled like a mix of sweat,blood, and vomit. There was dirt smeared on what skin he could see of the boy’s and a nasty purple bruise peaked out from underneath the collar of his bodysuit. How many bruises was he hiding under the dark leather on his body? 

“Isa, what are you gonna do with him?” Lea asked after a while to break the silence.

“I’ll keep him here.” Isa explained, looking back up at his friend. “Your parents would ask more questions than mine. Besides, you can barely take care of yourself, how would you take care of another person?”

The redhead scoffed quietly, obviously insulted but not denying the fact his friend was right. He decided not to argue with the other teen as he pulled the chair at his friend’s desk over to the bed and sat down with the chair backwards, resting his chin on the back of the chair. Isa walked to the kitchen and grabbed a large mixing bowl from one of the cabinets before walking over to the sink. He turned on the water and held his hand under the tap, waiting until it was a decently warm temperature before half filling the mixing bowl with water. Grabbing a clean towel from next to the sink, he turned off the water and walked back to his bedroom with the bowl of warm water.

“Help me get him out of this suit.” Isa said as he set the bowl down on his nightstand.

“Wait, what?”

“You heard me.”

Lea stood up and shook his head, rubbing the back of his neck awkwardly. “Sorry Isa but that’s where I draw the line. I’ll sit in the living room in case someone needs to distract your parents. Sorry.”

Isa sighed as he watched his friend leave, shrugging as he closed the bedroom door behind the redhead. He pulled his jacket off and threw it over the back of his chair before turning to face the boy on his bed again. How did his bodysuit even work? Was there a zipper along the back? Sighing quietly, Isa carefully rolled the black haired boy onto his side and inspected the back of his bodysuit. He ran his fingers along the back seam until he found the zipper pull, careful not to pinch the smaller teen’s skin as he unzipped the bodysuit to the base of his spine where the zipper ended. Teal eyes watched carefully for any signs that he was hurting the smaller male as he carefully pulled his arms out of the skin tight leather sleeves they were confined to. He carefully pulled the platform boots off the stranger’s feet before pulling the bodysuit off the rest of the way, leaving the stranger in just his underwear as he stepped back. Isa set the boots down next to his bedroom door with a soft sigh, folding the bodysuit carefully before setting it on his dresser. Deciding it was better than leaving the other male in clothes that very clearly needed to be washed, he pulled one of his shirts and a pair of boxer briefs he knew would be loose on the stranger out of his dresser before walking back over to his bed. 

He finished stripping the black haired boy down and tossed his underwear off towards where his own laundry hamper was before grabbing the clean towel and dipping it in the bowl of warm water, wringing it out so it wouldn’t drip water everywhere. Letting his eyes wander over the smaller male’s body, he noted the bruises littering his body with a sorrowful look. He ran the towel along the cuts and scars on the stranger’s body as he washed him, rinsing and wringing out his towel frequently so as to get him as clean as possible. After he was sure the stranger was as clean as he was going to get with a simple towel bath, he carefully dressed him in the clean boxer briefs and baggy grey t shirt. 

Isa let out a quiet sigh as he sat down on the edge of his bed, tracing over the thin scars on the smaller male’s forearms with his index finger. These scars were from something different than what had made the other crude scars and dark bruises littering his thin body. They were thin, precise, and purposely spaced on his arm. While the other marks on his body were obviously made by someone else, these ones he had made himself. What sort of abuse had this boy been through that he would willingly mar his own skin? What sort of battles had he needed to fight in his own mind to decide to mark his own flesh? 

Hearing a sound from the male, Isa turned his attention up to the stranger’s face in time to see his bright golden eyes blink open slowly. The stranger sat up quickly in surprise at the sight of the blue haired man before gripping his stomach where a large bruise had started forming while he was asleep. A dark mist shot out from the man, shifting to form the catlike appearance of a Flood. The small creature seemed worried as it examined its master, keeping itself between Isa and the black haired male.

“Careful, you’re hurt!” Isa sighed as he coaxed the other boy into laying back down, the catlike creature still trying to keep him away from its master as he tried to help. 

“Who are you?” the golden eyed teen asked as he reached over and set his hand on the Flood’s head to calm it down, knowing that there was nothing he could do to win a fight against the stranger if all he could manage to summon was one Flood. “Where am I?”

“I’m Isa, we’re in my room.” Isa explained as he watched the small catlike unversed rub its head against the stranger’s hand. “What is that?”

“It’s name is Flood. Relax, even a kid couldn’t lose to it.” 

“What’s your name?” the blue haired man asked as he reached out and gently pet the Flood, a smile gracing his lips as the small creature nuzzled into his hand.

The black haired male closed his eyes, deciding it wasn’t worth wasting his energy to fight the other teen with the state he was in. “Vanitas.”

“Vanitas, huh? Your parents must have a bad sense of humor.” Isa mumbled as he scratched under the Flood’s chin, hearing a sort of purring sound come from the small creature.

Vanitas let out a snort of amusement, seeming to roll his closed eyes. “You don’t even know.”

Flood curled up on its master’s chest quietly, closing its red eyes as Vanitas pet it quietly. Isa stood up quietly, picking up the bowl of now cooled water and the dirty towel. 

“I’ll be right back, don’t try sitting up again unless you like the pain in your stomach.” the blue haired man said with a slightly teasing tone, noting the glare shot his way as before stepping out of his room. 

Isa walked back out to the kitchen, pouring the dirty water into the sink before rinsing the bowl out with hot water and leaving it by the sink with the intention of cleaning it later. He set the dirty towel back in the mixing bowl and shut the water off, stepping away from the sink as his friend walked over with the intention of grilling him for answers. Turning his back to the sink, he leaned against the counter and crossed his arms over his chest, prepared to listen to the questions Lea had before he even thought about speaking.

“Is he awake? What’s his name? Where’d he come from? What’s he doing here?” 

“Yes, his name is Vanitas, no clue, and I didn’t ask. Anything else?”

Lea shook his head, content with those answers for now. “I’m gonna ask around and see if anyone knows anything. Maybe he’s a new apprentice of Ansem’s?” 

Isa nodded as he pushed away from the counter and glanced back towards his bedroom. “I’ll stay here with him. If you see my parents, just say he’s a friend of ours.”

“Got it. Don’t do anything stupid Isa.” the redhead teased on his way out of his friend’s house.

“You’re the one who does stupid things, Lea.” 

Isa sighed and watched his friend leave, rolling his eyes at his comment. He dug through the refrigerator for something Vanitas would be able to eat without getting sick and settled on making him a simple ham and cheese sandwich, mentally hoping that the scrawny man in his bed didn’t have any severe food allergies. Cleaning up after making two sandwiches, he carried the plate to his room and offered them to Vanitas.

“Here, you should eat.” Isa explained as he sat down on the chair his friend had dragged over to the bedside. 

Vanitas stared at the sandwiches with a confused look before carefully sitting up, holding Flood to his chest as the creature nuzzled against his shoulder. He took the plate and set it on his lap, picking up one of the two sandwiches and taking a bite of it, keeping an eye on the other man the whole time he ate. There was something strange about how kind Isa was being to him and he wouldn’t put it past the other boy to decide he wanted something from him. That was how Xehanort worked after all, he would only be nice when he wanted something from him and even then it was all just an act to get him to lower his Void Gear long enough to strike him for a laugh more often than not. After he finished the first sandwich, he offered a piece of the second one to his Flood, the small creature taking the piece between its front paws as it nibbled on the bread with a happy squeaking sound. Isa smiled as he watched Vanitas and the Flood, leaning his head against his hand.

“So Vanitas, how did you get all those bruises anyway? Did you get into a fight?” Isa asked calmly, letting the other focus on his food as they talked.

“No shit Sherlock.” golden eyes rolled as he replied sarcastically. “What? Did you think I fell down the stairs?”

The blue haired man prodded his side teasingly. “I wouldn’t put it past you. Is that how you got all those scars too?”

Vanitas took another bite of his food and nodded quietly, making sure his Flood didn’t choke as it ate. 

“Those ones on your arm though, those ones aren’t from a fight. I won’t ask why you did that to yourself but I won’t let you do that while you’re here.” 

“And who are you to stop me?”

Isa held out his arm to where the other boy could see it, the scars still prominent on his skin after all the time since Lea had made him stop. “Someone else who made the same choice before.” 

Vanitas reached out slowly, his fingers tracing along the thin scars sporadically spaced along his pale forearm. The more he spoke to the other teen, the more he interested him. His thoughts about finding Ventus and becoming one with him moving to the back of his mind as he wondered more and more about him. Their eyes met and the black haired teen let out a quiet sigh. 

“One condition.”

“And what’s that?”

Vanitas gripped the other’s wrist, pulling him closer towards him. “Only I can leave marks on you.”

Isa arched an eyebrow and smiled. “That sounds almost like a proposal.” he teased as he moved so he was sitting on the edge of the bed. “I’m in, I promise not to let anyone else mark my skin, only you.” 

The black haired man smirked as he set the plate on the nightstand, urging Flood off his lap before biting down on Isa’s shoulder. He felt the taller male jump as he dug his teeth into his skin, the taste of blood filling his mouth as he pierced the skin. Vanitas ran his hands under the blue haired man’s tank top, raking his nails down along his back as hard as he could in an attempt to leave scars on his skin. 

“Fuck, that hurts.” Isa hissed as he arched his back away from the nails digging into his skin. 

“Good.” Vanitas smiled as he licked the blood off his companion’s shoulder. “Whenever you look at these scars, only think of me. Not your friends, not your family, not even your enemies. Don’t let anyone else touch you like I do and never tell anyone where you got these scars. They’re only for you and me.”

The black haired teen moved away slightly before pulling the loose shirt up over his head, setting it on the bed next to him as his expression darkened. “You asked where all these scars and bruises came from. I’ll tell you so shut up for a little while.

“The bruise on my stomach is from a fight I got into here, I got knocked out by a girl. The rest of the bruises, they’re from my ‘father’, an old fucker named Xehanort. This one,” he pointed to a scar over where his heart was. “Is from when he tore me and my other half apart. I’m half a person without him, literally, and every day the old asshole makes sure I remember what it was like when I was whole and makes me hate being in half like this. He beats me to make me stronger, letting me only feel pain and suffering. He makes sure I hate myself so much that I create these things called the Unversed, things like Flood, and he has me use them to fight the other half of me and his friends, the girl who knocked me out and some big musclehead of a dumbass.

“When they beat the Unversed though, all the pain they feel as they’re brutally beaten to death I have to feel. The pain….the fucking pain….I hate it so much. I needed something that was mine to control and beating my own Unversed just put me in more pain after they disappeared. It was easier just to hurt myself instead, easier to watch the blood drip into the sand. And the look on Xehanort’s face when he found out what I was doing? The look of betrayal and rage as he realized what I’d done, I wish you could see it.”

Vanitas laughed as he finished his story, pulling the shirt back on to cover the marks on his skin before moving to sit on Isa’s lap. He rested his head against the taller male’s shoulder tiredly and closed his eyes, mentally exhausted from the time he had spent in the Badlands. Flood let out a squeak as it climbed into its master’s lap, nuzzling against his hand as the black haired man pet him absentmindedly. 

Isa wrapped his arms around the smaller male in his lap to keep him close. He had only known Vanitas for a few hours but he already wanted to keep him away from whoever this ‘Xehanort’ was, even if it meant running away with him to the ends of the world. 

“You can stay here with me.” Isa whispered as he rested his head on Vanitas’. 

Vanitas let out a snort of amusement. “If only it was that easy.”

He nuzzled against the other male’s shoulder softly, still petting his Flood. “If I tried hiding for that long, Xehanort would kill you.”

“What will you do?” Isa asked quietly, rubbing the smaller teen’s back softly.

“I’ll rest and then I’ll go back to the old fucker before he finds out about you. When it’s all over, I’ll come back.”

“You promise?”

“I promise.” Vanitas replied with all seriousness as golden eyes locked with teal.

“I’ll keep you to that.”


	2. The Castle That Never Was

Saïx stared up at the ceiling of his room in the Castle That Never Was, his mind racing for the first time in years. Why had he remembered that day when he met Vanitas? Why then of all times? He let out a quiet chuckle as his hand moved to his shoulder where the bite scar the smaller man had left on him was still as clear as the day he had left. He could still remember waking up that the morning Vanitas had left, the emptiness in his bed and the ache in his heart at the realization that the other hadn’t even said goodbye. There had been many days where he wondered how the black haired boy was doing. Had he finished what he needed to do and gone back to that empty room in Radiant Garden looking for him? Or was he still searching for the other half of himself? 

He remembered the day he had met the man who called himself ‘Xehanort’, the way his blood boiled with rage as the memory of the marks on Vanitas’ body, the way he screamed in his sleep, the way he would summon his keyblade out of fear at any sudden sound, and the way the Flood would try to comfort its master to no avail in the middle of his night terrors burned in his mind. Every day that he’d spent with the organization he had done his best to get on Xemnas’ good side, playing the obedient lapdog to try and get as much information as he could with Axel’s help about not only the girl they had seen and agreed to try to save but also about the broken boy who had stayed with him for only a few too short days. The space next to him still felt empty after the time he spent with Vanitas. 

Remembering Xemnas had mentioned a meeting being called that day, Saïx climbed out of bed and zipped his coat up just enough to cover the mark on his shoulder. He quietly summoned a dark corridor, walking through to the other side and sitting in his chair quietly as he patiently waited for the rest of the 13 to join him, both Xehanorts, Xemnas, and the heartless Ansem in the meeting room. It was the first time the true members of the real organization 13 were gathering and he would be lying if he said he wasn’t at least a little curious about who the other eight members could be. His golden eyes closed as he waited tiredly while the others joined them in the meeting room, a nudge to his arm and a weight on his lap catching him off guard. Saïx opened his eyes and forced himself to remain as calm as possible at the sight of a familiar creature. 

Flood nuzzled his arm softly before bolting to a chair across the room, sitting on its master’s lap obediently as a familiar man with a dark helmet pat its head. He could feel his heart pounding in his chest as he stared at the other male in the chair across from him, a finger up to where his lips would be behind the mask making it clear that now wasn’t the time. The blue haired man nodded just slight enough that he knew Vanitas could see it but not enough that anyone else would catch on. The small creature disappeared into its master’s shadow as the meeting started and Saïx forced himself to pay attention as Master Xehanort talked to them about the coming battle and explained to them about how all of them together were the chosen 13. After droning on for what felt like a lifetime, the old man dismissed everyone who wasn’t him to their rooms until further orders were issued. The blue haired man glanced over to the chair where Vanitas had been sitting to find it unoccupied. He felt his heart, or what was left of it, sink as he summoned a dark corridor to take him back to his room. Upon stepping out of the dark corridor, he found himself pinned to his bedroom wall by a much smaller male. Vanitas pulled the helmet off his head and tossed it onto the other’s bed, anger evident on his face.

“Who marked you?” the black haired man hissed as he motioned to the scar on his face. 

“Xemnas did.” the blue haired man explained, one hand moving to cup Vanitas’ cheek. “It’s really you….I’m not imagining things…”

Vanitas was caught off guard by the other’s response and flinched slightly. The Flood brought his helmet back over and the shorter seeker of darkness promptly took it from the small creature’s paws before shoving it on Saïx’s head. Grumbling something about their broken promise, the black haired man flopped down on the bed.

“You let someone else mark you.” 

“You never came back.” 

Vanitas sat up and glared at the other man, not in the mood for banter. “Well excuse me for being dragged to the fucking future. I’m not even really the Vanitas you should be complaining about because he’s…..he’s fucking dead.”

Saïx sat down on his bed next to the other seeker of darkness and pulled the helmet off his head, setting it next to him before hugging the smaller man tightly, catching his companion off guard. “I don’t care, you’re still here, you’re still you while I’m only half the man you met.”

Vanitas rolled his eyes and reached for the zipper of the taller man’s coat, pushing it back until he got the hint and took it off. His eyes gazed at the bite scar on Saïx’s shoulder before he checked to make sure the scars he had left on his back were still there. Pleased with his work, Vanitas nodded in approval and held his hand out to the other man.

“Your arm, Isa.” he commanded calmly.

Saïx held out his left arm, letting the black haired man inspect it to make sure there weren’t any more marks than there had been before. The Flood nuzzled up against the taller male’s side and chittered happily while its master counted each individual line quietly to confirm it was the same number as the last time they had seen each other. After he was sure that the number matched what it had been the last time they had seen each other. Nodding to himself, Vanitas toed off his boots and kicked them a couple feet away before unzipping his coat, tossing it over the foot of the other’s bed. He turned so his back was to Saïx before looking back at him, the look of confusion on his companion’s face causing him to roll his eyes. 

“The zipper dumbass, otherwise you can’t check mine.” the black haired man explained.

Saïx nodded as he reached up to the back of the smaller man’s neck, pulling the zipper pull down to the base of his spine before pulling his hand away and watching as Vanitas freed himself from the confines of the skin tight leather bodysuit he wore. The blue haired male could feel his face pinking up slightly as his companion turned around, wearing only the pair of boxer briefs he had snatched from his house the night before he disappeared. Holding out his left hand, Vanitas waited patiently as the taller male inspected his body to make sure he had indeed kept their promise, letting out a sigh of relief upon finding the only difference between then and now was the number of bruises on his thin body. 

“You kept your promise but I didn’t keep mine.” Saïx chuckled quietly as his hand moved to the scar on his face that Xemnas had left on him.

Vanitas rolled his eyes before climbing onto his companion’s lap. “Just shut up and love me.”

The blue haired man smiled as he wrapped his arms around the smaller male, holding him close as the Flood curled up on one of his pillows. “I never stopped waiting for you.”

The black haired male let out a quiet grunt as he rested his head against the taller man’s shoulder and closed his eyes. Taking that as a sign Vanitas was happy, Saïx wrapped the blanket on his bed around the two of them, content just to sit there with him as long as he could. If only that moment could last forever.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Really not sure what to put here, I just really hope I did this justice and that it turned out alright


End file.
